GAA to address issue of paid managers

GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney has indicated there is to be some movement on consideration of the issue of payments to managers, which has been the subject of a controversial and so far largely unseen discussion document prepared by association director general Páraic Duffy.

The president had promised in his speech to last April’s annual congress that he would call together county chairs, secretaries, treasurers and Central Council delegates within two months to gather views on the topic and allow Duffy to present his paper and “hopefully agree on a set of possible outcomes for further consideration”.

Yesterday he conceded that this original timeframe had been too rushed but said that process was still in motion.

“We have done some more work. We have decided not to do anything with it during the championship season. We will do it now in the off season. It is an easier time to get people to sit down and discuss it in a realistic fashion.”

Saying that he expected “over the next period you will see some discussion on it,” he added –

“We’ve got to see if we put something in place if it will be deliverable. There is not much point putting something in place if it can’t be delivered.”

Asked did he still see the issue as “a cancer”, as stated in his annual address to congress, he replied: “People criticised me for using that word. The word was used with the best of intentions. It is a serious problem, not just at county level but at club level.”

Citing the recession as a deterrent to the practice of paying managers, the president also referred to Edenderry in Offaly, who recently won the county senior football title with a management team from within the club.

“I find it hard to understand why anybody would have to go outside their club for a manager. I would be a great believer in the home-grown situation and that we should be developing that as much as possible. We should have a coaching structure in our clubs that can deliver at all levels.

“I often see top-class people coaching at underage, they do a wonderful job for us, and then we feel they are not good enough for adult grades. I find that mind-boggling to be honest you.”

Questioned about Ireland defence coach and selector Kieran McGeeney, who is an outside manager with Kildare, the president denied any inconsistency.

“Kieran McGeeney is on it because of the skills that he brings to the table. Because of his knowledge of football and knowledge of coaching I felt he was the right person to have on board.

“Do I believe in Kieran being in Kildare? I suppose I don’t agree with outside managers so that is the answer to that.

“But that doesn’t mean Kieran doesn’t have a contribution to make within the association. I see it very differently. I see that as two separate issues.”

He also spoke out strongly on the question of congress decision to reintroduce replays for first-round provincial championships and All-Ireland qualifiers, saying that “the club scene will be decimated” if it goes ahead.

Central Council is expected to frame a motion for next year’s congress proposing reversion to the previous rule, where extra time is played when teams are level after 70 minutes.

“We have to bring a counter motion to Congress next year to change that and basically say it’d have to become operable immediately. Congress has that power to make that decision that you don’t have to wait – that it would become operable straight away.

“It’d be like trying to get a balancing act at the end of the day because the provinces are keen to have replays because financially it’s important for them. Their gates (receipts) have dropped and in some provinces that’s a challenge and we recognise that. At the same time, we have to be fair to our players and our clubs.”

l The president also said that the gap year in the three-year international cycle would be one of the matters for review when the GAA and AFL meet formally tomorrow to consider the future of the series but the organisations are likely to decide on a two-year sequence in 2013 and ’14, pending further review.